Chapter 232 – Penance.

The mermaids were swimming really fast even though they were leading the horses with several lines. It wasn’t very fast at first, but it got faster and faster until it became difficult to hold onto the saddle and hold on to the wind.

– Purruk!

The situation was worse for horses that had to face the surging waves directly with their bodies. Because the sound of his breathing, as if he was choking, came straight to Usher. It was exactly the second day that I stopped by the island and rested like that.

“It arrived soon!”

That’s what I heard from one of the mermaids who led them in front. Even the blowing wind had faded as much as the girls had slowed down, so Usher could see it with his head up. A gray curtain floating in the sky in the distance.

“It must be dangerous from here. Are you really going to be okay?”

They soon stopped near there. As the mermaids looked at them anxiously, Usher could tell that a lot had changed. Even just a few days ago, the eyes that were aiming at them were fierce.

“We take care of our bodies. And it wouldn’t be good for you guys to stay here for a long time. Go back to the village quickly.”

As they returned to the village at Krikaliev’s words, they looked back at them as if they were uncomfortable with something. Although Usher was worried about them.

“Can mermaids really get along with people?”
“It will depend on what we do next.”
“I guess so…”

Watching them leave, he remembered Luboshi who had confessed to him. Her first meeting was the worst, but he was heartbroken because he heard the story of the mermaids and learned why she acted that way, but all he could do was wish her happiness in finding someone new. So, she just decided to leave it as a bond and looked at the way forward.

“Is that Lagado?”

There, as if blocked by an invisible wall, there were gray clouds that did not disperse anywhere at a certain boundary.

“Yes, it’s on the outskirts, but it’s annoying because it’s across the road to the Holy Land.”

If so, that would also mean the cloud zone, but it was definitely different from what Usher knew. The clouds of the Cloud Zone he knew were as thick and lofty as the great walls of Lantua, and beneath them was as dark as night. The cloud area they were approaching now was a transparent yet dull gray, like black paint diluted with water over and over again. This made Usher questionable.

“Is that the Cloud Zone?”

Clouds of that size were common when it rained. It was so ugly that it was a pity to compare it to the cloudlands that Donnar had crossed.

“I know what you’re thinking, but you’d better be prepared from now on.”

Hearing Krikaliev’s words, Usher wondered if he would just do the original Cloud Zone, but thinking he had a reason for saying that, he was holding on to the saddle.

“Ugh! What does this smell like?”

As the clouds began to block the sunlight, an unpleasant smell crept up from somewhere and stung his nose. Usher didn’t know what to say about the smell. It was like a urine-soaked, fishy smell, but it seemed to permeate even though it was blocking my nose. So he looked around, but he couldn’t find the source of the smell even after looking around. Then he knew when he saw the color of the turbid water and took his nose off it for a moment.

“Uugh! What is it? The water suddenly smells…”

Even though they had only briefly removed their hands from covering their noses, the nauseating smell was coming from the water they had been drinking so far. I was even more curious because I had never been through this place until now.

“If you go a little further, you will understand why this place is like this.”
“Is there no other way?”
“This is the shortest way to the Holy Land. To avoid Ragado, you will have to go back for a while. Do you have time for that?”

I wondered if it would be better to go through another route with her nose plugged, but after hearing the return from Krikaliev, I had no choice but to hold back. Even if you could avoid this nasty smell, wasting your time was a no-brainer. They were forced to move on.

“…What is all this?”

Usher soon found the source of the water’s odor. No, there were too many causes for it to be found. Even if you don’t look closely, you can’t help but notice it at a glance. Because what unfolded in front of them as they advanced was a strange sight of white thorns poking out from the water. They weren’t just thorns. Their appearance, which became clearer as they approached, was clearly bones. Those bones poked their heads out of the water countless times, setting up pointed white spines like resentment that I didn’t know where to go.

“It’s a fairly common sight in Lagado. Since this is the outskirts, it feels like it was intentionally thrown away.”
“What the hell are you doing?”

I didn’t know what bones they were, but I could hear how many of these were piled up under the viscous water, and every time the horse took a step, I could hear a rattle and bone rolling from the water. The creepy feeling didn’t stop just by moving forward. I can’t help but wonder why the mermaids were worried about them.

“You can roughly tell that it’s not a very nice place to live, right?”

I couldn’t believe that so many bones were rotting in one place, but I couldn’t help it because it was already happening right in front of my eyes. But this was just the beginning. Because, as I approached the two cliffs that were facing each other soaring far away, black discolored lumps began to stick to the ones where only bones remained, and eventually all kinds of flesh remained and glistened. The identity of the smell that pierced the nose along with the nasty stench was that the flesh was rotting.

“Ugh, it doesn’t seem like a bad place to live.”

There was not even a trace of the original appearance of the dingy, viscous water that tried to cling to the body of the horse unpleasantly as it went on. The further they went, the more it seemed that they were walking not on water, but on the skin of a gigantic, jellied creature.

“For now, be careful not to touch it as much as possible. If this water ever touches a wound, it won’t be strange if it rots there later.”

Usher pulled his leg up as far as he could at his words. The wounds that were already on my body had long since healed, but the fact that I was still touching this place made me uncomfortable.

“Are you and this guy okay?”

The horse and Krikaliev, who had ridden themselves, were still soaking in this water, so he asked.

“Oh, are you okay? I want to go and wash up quickly.”
-Hee hee!

I was a little relieved by the reply of Krikaliev and Mal. I wanted to get away from this unpleasant sensation by having a little conversation, but the smell that permeates me just by opening my mouth doesn’t allow that. The horse’s breathing became rougher and slower as it struggled to advance through the viscous water.

“Mister, is there any place to rest around here?”

Usher was looking around himself, but there was no place like an island where they could rest. The wide sky and the horizon disappeared, and it seemed as if dark cliffs stood tall on either side of them, tightening them more and more.

“Soon you’ll see a place to land, but there won’t be time to rest.”
“Yeah? That’s why… Ugh, what is it?”

Usher tried to ask him why, but he was cut off by the feeling of water hitting his head. I remembered that this place was under the clouds and tried to look up to see if it would rain.

“Don’t look up! Close your eyes!”

Krikaliev’s shouts hit him in the ears. He wasn’t unsure, but he didn’t look up. Still, he suddenly couldn’t understand why he was told to close his eyes, so he was looking forward, but even if he was only looking forward, he could see up somehow. Because of this, Usher realized that it wasn’t rain that had hit him in the head. Thinking it was rain, he touched the spot where it had been hit and brought it in front of his eyes to see something black smeared on his hand.

“Didn’t I tell you to close your eyes?”

Above them, numerous ropes stretched between high cliffs and cliffs. The ropes dyed black like the water here, the unidentifiable plants growing on them of the same color, and the broken ropes hanging on the wall of the cliff were dreary enough on their own, but that was not the problem.

“Is this all human?”
“It will.”

The black ropes had people threaded one after another. Naturally, it was hard to see it alive. There were also occasional glimpses of people hanging intact, but can we really call it normal? All of them had their bellies ripped open, and their blackened stems stretched out between them, and they swayed whenever the wind blew. Not only that. Some seemed to cling to a single bone with a jagged shadow on the upper and lower body, and then fell down with a snapping sound.

– Iron puck! Good food!

At the same time as the lower body breaks and falls down, the sound of the contents coming down and hitting the floor can be heard. Even though it fell on the water, the crushing sound echoed through the quiet valley as if it had landed on the floor. Usher swallowed what was about to rise up his throat at the disgusting sensation rising from within.

“Why are people like this?”
“I’ll explain later, so hurry now.”

Then Krikaliev held out a piece of cloth to Usher. Just as he was making his way, wiping the dirt off his head and hands with the cloth.

-Kigreuk, Kkigeuk.

That strange sound started to come from everywhere. At the sound, similar to the monster cries he had heard so far, Usher gasped and nearly threw up at the foul smell that made his chest ache.

“Wooooo, isn’t this a monster too?”

Even though I was just breathing, I managed to ask, suffering from the feeling that I kept trying to vomit.

“You shouldn’t have to worry about these. They’re insects that simply feed on corpses here.”

But Usher couldn’t believe it.

“Just an insect, oops!?”

Because the sounds and the ones that appeared were gigantic caterpillars, no matter how small, the size of Usher’s forearms. The surface of the larvae is similar to whitish flesh, but the transparent and dense hairs visible through the wrinkles, crawling densely on the water as if swimming and eating the black flesh attached to the bone fragments, made me doubt whether they were really monsters.

“These are the larvae of Karambisque. At least the larvae only eat rotten meat, so they don’t have to worry about attacking us. The problem is when they become adults.”
“Why imago?”
– Boo woo woo!

While asking him why, he heard another sound. The sound of something thin vibrating as if it was moving quickly, I could hear how many of those sounds overlapped so much that I couldn’t tell.

“When they are larvae, they only eat corpses, but when they become adults, they don’t eat anything other than fresh meat.”
“…That fresh meat doesn’t mean us, does it?”
“Oh, you’re sharp as expected.”

Usher couldn’t help but laugh at Krikaliev’s words that seemed to compliment him. It was because he could see hundreds of flying insects flying between the cliffs in swarms as if they were examining something. From a distance, it looked like small flying insects were flying around, but the problem was the flapping of wings that echoed through the valley even though they were flying over the cliff. Sure enough, the closer they came, the more Usher could tell that each of them was at least the size of his fist.

“Aren’t we really dangerous?!”

Perhaps because of the surprise, the things inside no longer tried to come up, but the situation was the worst. They are not monsters, but insects that can eat them alive may find themselves at any moment, but now they are submerged and cannot move quickly.

– Boo woo woo woo!

The flapping of their wings grew louder and louder, and Usher could soon see them clearly. A pair of claws that looked like sharp-forged daggers but curved inward like the tusks of a beast, and they flew around with their carapaces glossy blue-green.